At this week’s Digital Distribution Summit in Melbourne, the CEO of Film Victoria, Sandra Sdraulig, announced a new initiative for game designers, called the Downloadable Games Initiative, which will give grants of up to $75,000 for new digitally distributed game projects.

“The new Downloadable Games Initiative will see Film Victoria invest more than half a million dollars to support five new projects in the next 12 months," said Sdraulig. "With the Australian game industry expected to increase from $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion in 2013, digital distribution presents significant new business opportunities to local game companies. Our aim is to support and inspire the local industry to take advantage of this burgeoning market.”

She also mentioned that in the last two years, Film Victoria have helped fund 12 digital media prototypes which have created $4.7 million of spending, a 348% increase in Victorian spending on digital media. This year alone, Australians are estimated to spend $210 million on digital games.

Source: Digital Media